Aerial spraying begins to target locusts

Efforts to prevent the predicted locust plague are officially starting with the first aerial spraying getting underway in the state's Far West.

Around 30,000 hectares of land at Walgett, Brewarrina and Bourke is being doused with chemical to target around 600 bands of the pest which have been detected in recent weeks.

Industry and Investment New South Wales says it will take around three days to spray the area, depending on the weather.

The Deputy Locust Commissioner Simon Oliver says aerial spraying is the only option due to the size of the locust bands.

"Most country is a little bit inaccessible still, though it's starting to dry out, a lot of it is still far too wet and in some places it is quite rough country and because of the size of these bands it's certainly beyond the capability of landholders from the ground," he said.

"Last week while some were starting to band, in some cases they were still coming out of the ground, and it's now been a further week down the track, so we're hoping that delay will be enough that the majority have come out of the ground.

So, what we'll do is conduct the spray operations over the next two or three days and then we'll put the surveillance plane back over the same area just to double check whether we've missed any."

Pilots who fly across inland New South Wales are also being urged to avoid bands of locusts.

For the first time in 10 years the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has issued the warning for those flying in areas where the pests are predicted.

Swarms of up to 50 million can reach heights of 3,000 feet and can cause reduced visibility and damage to planes' equipment and instruments.

Peter Gibson from CASA says pilots need to check where locusts are before flying.

"Locusts can be a danger to small and even larger aircraft.

They can certainly cause engines not to run properly, they can cause instruments to give false readings and all of these things cause in a danger in the air.

So pilots need to plan for locusts and avoid them if possible," he said.

"Pilots also need to be aware of the fact that around locusts, you're going to have increased traffic.

You might have aircraft spotting locusts, you might have aircraft spraying locusts. So everyone has got to be aware of increased traffic."